Sacrifice Epitomized in A Hero

It was just before Christmas when Knoxville 15 year-old Fulton (Tennessee) High School football star Zaevion Dobson gave his life to save the lives of three girls, using his body to shield them from a rain of gunfire.

Dobson and his friends were together in their Knoxville neighborhood on the evening of December 17 when a group of men approached them and began firing, seemingly randomly, into the crowd. Dobson didn’t appear to hesitate for a moment, he used his body to shield the girls, quickly leaping between them and the gunfire.

He died a hero.

Zaevion Dobson

Dobson’s brother Zach told a local television station: “I’m shocked. I’m really just shocked. I can’t believe it, can’t get it across my head. We were just sitting on the porch chillin’, and we see these random dudes walking up.”

Zaevion was the only one who died. All three girls are safe

“He was really one of our success stories,” said Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero. “Involved in sports, a mentee of one of our organizations in town.”

His football coach, Rob Black, said, “Only a sophomore, but a very contagious young man who was very liked by his peers and his teachers.”

So what do you think of when you hear stories like Zaevion’s? Of course some use it for political gain, others spend more time focused on the murderers than the hero. But, at least in this case, even publications as systematically secular as USA Today couldn’t help but see John 15:13 here, adding “A culture that encouraged heroism, rather than victimhood, could expect more.”

I hope I have raised my children as Zaevion’s parents obviously raised him. I hope I would act in a similar way if faced with the same situation.